son (cuba)

staying on the island of cuba for another episode of this project
putting sound and vision to songlines magazine 50 rhythms of the world
they suggested a group called sierra maestra as a good example
which reminded me i actually saw the group perform in sydney in 1996
at the excellent metro theatre and presumably a good night
the memory of the concert was somewhat overshadowed
as it was also the night of the australian federal election
in which the legendary paul keating was taken out
and the now despatched john howard was installed as pm
thinking back to that night there was a sense of foreboding
seemed like the clock was about to get turned back
little did we know he would hang around for so long
and do so much social damage to the country
but back to the music and the style of son
here's what songlines magazine had to say

son, grandfather of salsa, is cuba's national music
a sensual couple dance, it's timbric blend of afro-cuban and spanish influences
involves multiple layers of percussive polyrhythms
held together by the key clave time line 1-2 1-2-3
sung verses develop into a second montuno section where the singer improvises lines
answered by a band chorus

popping sierra maestra into the youtube search engine
delivers up all sorts of interesting videos
and not many of them musical
seems there is a mountain range in cuba called sierra maestra
used most famously by fidel castro and che guevara
as a base for their cuban revolution
i also found the following clip
a fine example of son i suspect
from another respected son (oops) of cuba
polo montanez - killed in a car accident
on the way to super stardom in his home country
looks like he is miming the song on a tv show
and it does sound kind of poppy
but i like it anyway
(37 of 50)